Weeping* on Willow

19 Days until Easter We woke up early.  As kids, we didn’t normally  roll out of bed that easily, but we were sure to jump straight out of bed that morning (and when I say jump out of bed, I mean literally--bed jumping was one of our greatest talents as kids)!  And all three of us (me and my brothers, Scotty and John) put on our bright orange Jim Allen Jaguar t-shirts with urgency and a wee bit of excitement.  It was our first trip to Disney World!!  And I knew the first thing I wanted to do.  Space Mountain!  As we walked into the park, I could see the glorious white space-age building that was indeed shaped like a space mountain.  As we stood in line to get into the building, I could see through the doors.  It was dark in there.  Like space.  My little heart pounded with joy.  I was finally going to ride the greatest roller coaster in the universe!  As we walked through, I was greeted as a passenger by some lady over...

20 Days until Easter Forgiveness.  Let’s talk about it (yes, I realize that by “let’s”, I mean me and myself having a conversation).  Peter asked Jesus a question that I feel drawn to reflect on today. “Then Peter came up and said to Him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?  As many as seven times?”  -Matthew 18:21 It’s a common question in my house.  “So and So said _____.  How should I respond?”  Or, “So and So did ______ to me.  What should I do?”  What their real question is, “How many times do I let So and So treat me this way until it’s ok for me to forget forgiveness and give them a good ole grudge!?”.  Forgiveness isn’t always easy. “Jesus said to him (Peter), “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.”  Matthew 18:22 This part of scripture isn’t really about math or numbers.  It’s about forgiveness.  The question at hand was about the limit on forgive...

21 Days until Easter My greatest yeses.  As I think back to the times I have responded with a “yes”, there are a few among many that stick out in my mind as the greatest.  Back when I was fourteen, my mom made me a beautiful purple dress for a school dance.  Off I went, sparkling the night away in my purple sequins.  Josh asked me to dance. And as “Lady in Red” played over the speakers, he asked me to be his girlfriend.  I said yes.  Then at nineteen, he took me out on a date.  And instead of driving past the place where we had our first dance, he pulled the car into the parking lot.  He pushed play on the car stereo and asked me to dance. And as “Lady in Red” played out into the parking lot that had become our dance floor, he asked me to be his wife.  I said yes.  Looking back to the night in the purple dress, I had no idea that the boy I was dancing with would grow to be a man that I’d live the rest of my life with as his wife....

22 Days until Easter How did the religious leaders take to Jesus coming into the Temple and driving out the corruption?  Well, they didn’t like it in the least.  It was a “Who in the world do you think you are?” kind of moment. “And when He entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to Him as He was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” -Matthew 21:23 They had been given the opportunity to be a light for all nations, but instead squandered the opportunity by pleasing themselves.  Instead of taking the shape of righteousness, they had taken the shape of self righteousness.  So Jesus, being the teacher He is, puts things into perspective through a parable.  He wanted His lessons to really connect to their understanding so He confronts the leaders in relatable terms by teaching them how they have mismanaged His vineyard. Jesus tells the story of how a landown...

23 Days until Easter Ok, so when I was reflecting on the scripture that tells the story of Palm Sunday and then leads straight into the story of Jesus cleansing the Temple, I read the accounts according to multiple Gospels.  Mixed into the story of how Jesus comes down from the Mount of Olives for the Triumphal Entry and then purges the Temple, are a few verses about a fig tree.  To be honest, I wasn’t going to stop and reflect on those few sentences.  But for whatever reason, as I try to move forward in preparing my heart for Easter, my mind keeps going back to those sentences.  The Triumphal Entry was--well, triumphal.  It was a significant moment in scripture.  As was Jesus walking into the temple and taking care of business.  So, I wasn’t seeing the need to stop and think about the few verses about a fig tree amongst two significant events.  But I can’t ignore the pulling on my heart to take a moment to examine those few verses in a bit mo...

24 Days until Easter (A Continuation of 25 Days until Easter) Picking up where I left off.  Jesus rode into Jerusalem Sunday and made His way straight to the Temple.  He walked in, saw the corruption, then He walked out.  He had all night to think about what He had witnessed.  He also had all night to think about how He was going to deal with it.  He was going to clean house.  With His disciples, they went down to Jerusalem and into the Temple.  He knew He had little time left on earth and every day would be lived with great purpose.  There was a lesson to be learned, and He’d be the one to teach it.  The sellers and moneychangers had lost sight of what was holy.  They had turned a place of worship into a place to scam travelers who came to worship.  “ In the temple He found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the moneychangers sitting there.  And making a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the te...